A method of hide cleansing is known, residing in washing the hides, soaking the dung with laying, knocking (scraping) the dung off, and repeated washing of hides with laying for the drip-off of the moisture.
This method fails to ensure adequate quality of hide processing, since scraping cannot completely remove the dung and a considerable part of it remains on the hair of the hide.
Besides, the hides contain after processing a considerable amount of surface moisture, requiring greater expenditure of salt and sodium fluosilicate during subsequent curing.
Another disadvantage of this method is the need for laying the hides for 60 to 90 minutes to soak the dung after washing, which prolongs the production cycle, increases labour intensity and rules out continuity of the process.
These drawbacks are partially removed in another prior art hide cleansing, whereby hides are washed in washing machines for soaking the dung, after which they are fed to a dung removing (or fleshing) machine intended for knocking or scraping the dung off. In this method, the washing of the hides in the washing drum takes place simultaneously with the soaking of the dung, which is then removed in an intermittent-action apparatus comprising a pair of transporting shafts for feeding the hides and shafts with a blade for removing the dung by scraping. (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,442; cl. 68-42, and the washing machine manufactured by the Stehling company, USA). Washing the hides in the washing drum makes it possible to partially mechanize the cleansing of hides, but the method entails increased expenditure of water though the soaking of the dung is inadequate. Moreover, during the rotation of the washing drum, an intensive mixing of hides takes place, resulting in the soiling of the flesh side of the hides with no way of cleaning them later, which impairs the hides' market value.
The above-described dung removing (or fleshing) machine does not provide for adequate hide treatment quality, since scraping off (knocking off) cannot fully remove the dung, a considerable part of which remains on the hair of the hide. Besides, this dung removal process involves much manual labour for loading the hides into the dung removing machine and unloading them therefrom. The method does not provide for the operation of removing surface moisture from the hides, which subsequently requires increased salt expenditure for curing them.
Thus, prior art cattle hide cleansing methods and equipment fail to ensure adequate hide cleansing quality; they prolong the production cycle, increase labor intensity and the expenditure of curing materials, and also rule out the performance of these processes in a continuous flow-line.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate the above disadvantages.